November 08, 2009
UTNE READER

Diet for a Small Pleasure

Refusal of joy is the unhealthiest habit

March/April 2002
By Philip E. Lefebvre, Clamor (www.clamormagazine.org/) 
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FAT NATION
Fat Nation
-Andy SteinerDiet for a Small Pleasure
-Philip E. Lefebvre
Is the epidemic of obesity in America a personal issue or a political issue? Discuss in Café Utne's new Fitness forum: cafe.utne.com

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In our heroin-chic, Barbie-doll culture, dieting has become a chronic obsession. While it may have some health benefits, without a consistent regimen of aerobic exercise, you will merely be easing the load while slowly killing yourself with stress.You do realize that if you stand in front of the pastry case at the coffee shop and calculate calories in your head, trying to figure out if a chocolate chip cookie is going to show up on your hips, you are actually doing more damage to your heart from the stress than if you simply ate the damn cookie and allowed yourself to experience the joy of it, right? You do realize that happiness and personal acceptance are hundreds of times better for you than stressful self-denial, right?The only true blasphemy is refusing joy. Vanity kills. Happiness produces endorphins that keep you healthy. And even if laughter wasn’t the best medicine, I would still rather live 10 years in a bowl of ice cream than a hundred in a bag of rice cakes. The truth of it is that you can eat right, drink your bottled water, take your vitamins, and get plenty of sleep and still be outlived by the glutton next to you who didn’t step in front of that bus.
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